English Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas between 1647 and 1660 because he believed such celebrations were immoral for the holiest day of the year.
26
The Queen's Christmas speech was first televised in 1957.
18
In 1999, residents of the state of Maine in America built the world's biggest ever snowman. He stood at 113ft tall.
103
Christmas trees become popular in the UK from 1841 when Prince Albert erected a tree in Windsor Castle following a German tradition. Fir trees have been decorated at Christmas time in Germany since the 8th century.
20
Louis Prang, a Bavarian-born lithographer who came to the USA from Germany in the 19th century, popularized the sending of printed Christmas cards. He invented a way of reproducing color oil paintings
, the "chromolithograph technique", and created a car
, the "chromolithograph technique", and created a car
1
The sun sets on 24 December at 3.55pm in the UK, and rises the following morning at 8.05am.
81
Although now mostly vegetarian, in Victorian times, mince pies were made with beef and spices.
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